6-1. Your primary shelter in a survival situation will be your uniform. This point is true regardless of whether you are in a hot, cold, tropical, desert, or arctic situation. For your uniform to protect you, it must be in as good a condition as possible and be worn properly.
6-2. Clothing needs to keep the isolated person dry, warm or cool, out of the sun, and away from bugs. The foundation of the isolated person’s uniform is their footwear. Personnel should ensure they have broken in their boots before wearing them on a mission to ensure they do not get unwanted blisters. Good socks also provide protection from blisters. Socks available to personnel are typically made of polypropylene, cotton, and wool.
6-3. The key in choosing the right sock is to ensure the material meets the isolated person’s needs. For example, wool socks have great insulation value; wool is animal hair of hollow fibers and it retains heat. It absorbs moisture but retains it in its fibers, and can absorb about fifty percent of its weight in water before it feels cold and wet. Wool is hard to dry out but retains its insulating properties when wet. Wool is flame resistant and is more forgiving than other fabrics when drying by fire. The wool fiber is barbed and spear-shaped and can cause an itchy feeling. However, new manufacturing processes and different breeds of wool help with this problem.
6-4. Cotton socks keep the foot cool and wick moisture away from the foot; once wet, cotton will lose about ninety percent of its insulation value and is very difficult to dry out. In dry, warm climates, cotton socks should be the isolated person’s sock of choice because they can be extremely abrasion and ultraviolet-ray resistant, and they can help keep feet cool. Polypropylene socks resist absorbing moisture. The material transfers moisture across the material from the skin onto other material or the air where it can dry out.
6-5. Polypropylene makes an excellent base layer. One down side of polypropylene is that it is so effective at wicking away moisture it can cause the body to overwork itself and use more energy than other fabrics. This fabric also retains body odor and has a low melting point, so caution should be used when drying it around a fire. Personnel should carry extra socks and rotate them as needed to keep their feet dry. Foot powder can assist in this process.
6-6. Clothing fibers can be degraded by sand and soil because of the abrasive nature of their grains. Additionally, isolated personnel may develop blisters or a hot spot causing injury when sand- or dirt-covered clothing rubs against their skin. They must make every effort to attain a high standard of cleanliness including the use of platforms to avoid putting clothing and equipment directly on the ground, but not at the expense of security.
6-7. If clothing gets dirty, clean it and keep it dry. The “COLDER” (clean, overheating, loose layers, dry, examine, and repair) principle provides a foundation for care and wear of the uniform while isolated and is further described in the following :
- Clean. Keep clothing clean. This principle is always important for sanitation and comfort. In winter, it is also important from the standpoint of warmth. Clothes matted with dirt and grease lose much of their insulation value. Heat can escape more easily from the body through the clothing’s crushed or filled up air pockets. Dirt within the fibers will cut or tear the clothing, causing them to wear out prematurely. In a survival situation, it may be impractical to wash clothing; therefore, take the necessary precautions to prevent clothing from becoming soiled.
- Overheating. Avoid overheating. When personnel get too hot, they sweat and their clothing absorbs moisture. This affects their warmth in the following ways: dampness decreases the insulation quality of clothing and as sweat evaporates, the body cools. Adjust your clothing so that you do not sweat. Do this by partially opening your parka or jacket, by removing an inner layer of clothing, by removing heavy outer mittens, or by throwing back your parka hood or changing to lighter headgear. The head and hands act as efficient heat dissipaters when overheated.
- Loose layers. Wear clothing loose and in layers. Tight clothing and footgear restrict blood circulation and invite cold injuries. It also decreases the volume of air trapped between the layers, reducing the insulation value. Several layers of lightweight clothing are better than a single, equally thick layer of clothing, because the layers have dead airspaces between them. This dead airspace provides extra insulation. In addition, layers of clothing allow personnel to take off or add layers to prevent excessive sweating or to increase warmth.
- Dry. Keep clothing dry. This is important since wet clothing can conduct heat away from the body up to 25 times faster than dry clothing, depending on the type of fabric.
- Wear water repellant clothing as an outer layer if available. It will shed most of the water from rain and snow. Despite the precautions taken, there will be times when isolated persons cannot avoid getting wet. At such times, drying their clothing may become a major problem.
- As isolated persons move about, they can place wet clothing on their rucksack exposing the wet clothing to the sun and wind; this will dry them. They can also put damp clothing near their body’s core and body heat will began to dry the clothing. If at a stationary location, construct drying racks or a clothesline to hang clothes up to dry.
- Placing clothing near a fire will dry it quickly. Isolated persons should make sure to use the three-second rule so they do not put clothing too close to the fire and damage it. The threesecond rule involves being able to hold a hand in front of the fire at a distance that, if the back of the hand is exposed to the flame, it is still comfortable to keep it there for three or more seconds. Also, monitor the clothing to ensure that it does not fall into the flame or that the fire does not flame up and destroy the items.
- Dry leather items slowly. If no other means are available for drying boots, isolated persons can put the boots between their sleeping bag liner and shell. Their body heat will dry the leather.
- Examine. Periodically examine clothing for worn areas, tears, and cleanliness.
- Repair. Repair any damaged clothing before tears and holes become too large to patch or sew. Patches can be made from cloth, tape, and other materials. Use a sewing kit, improvising one if needed. Sewing kits can be made from such items as bones, plant fibers, parachute cord, and large thorns.
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